That Sweet Ghost Girl
by Tak the Wonder
Summary: The story of Wybie Lovat's grandmother Edna and her twin sister Eloise. A gripping tale, with mystery, wonder and of coarse the Other Mother's favorite, horror. Please READ AND REVIEW!
1. Teapots & Plummeting Wells

Tap, tap, tap, tappity tap. Another torrent of raindrops hit the stained glass windows of the old Queen Anne's style manor. The house had peeling bright pink paint and looked like an aging turnip, with white pink skin wrinkled with age. It would have looked worse if it weren't for the almost glowing stained glass windows the bordered ever side of the house.

The glass windows depicted adventures of famous people, and story characters. They invited any observer, especially a young child to imagine the adventures without even having to open a book. Each picture was it's own marvel, there were knights and dragons, princesses calling from towers, and even a Greek gladiator holding the head of Medusa high in the air.

Rain would have made any child happy; the possibility puddles the next day and even promising rainbows. And the way the stain-glass looked wet was almost mystical. But for a certain child in the old pink house, starring at the rain was more appealing.

Staring at the rain in disgust was Eloise Lovat's idea of a good time. Well it wasn't a pleasant time, but instead a delightful fest of loathing. If she told the rain she hated it, the rain wouldn't yell back, and it wouldn't reach down a hand and whack her. It didn't have a voice that pierced her ears, and made her sob. She could loathe the rain all day and nothing would happen, she could complain about the rain and no one would care.

It was different with Patrice. If Eloise yelled at Patrice she would get slapped, yelled at and scolded all in one delightful package. Patrice had a temper that if set off would detonate a bomb of destruction throughout the house. That was the reason the woman looked like a human teakettle, whose top wasn't fastened right. She might have even looked like one if you looked closely. Same askew top, except hers were atrocious floral numbers that made a large radius around her head. Same round body, decorated with a giant flower-patterned dress that reminded Eloise of a colossal tea-cozy, with patterned stitching. The one thing you could not relate her to a teapot was the warmth. Teapots held tea and usually brought people warmth and comfort. Patrice brought neither; she was as warm as a frozen lake and as inviting as a hungry python.

Patrice was Eloise's stepmother, a nasty, cross woman with deep black hair and dark pitchy skin. She was from Louisiana, and spoke with a southern drawl which was stressed when she yelled, which happened allot. She had married Eloise's father after their own mother had past, when they were 6. _"How could he have married, such a woman?"_ Eloise asked herself many-a-time when Patrice was in a "mood". For one thing she was the complete opposite of her own mother. Her mother had been a sweet, caring woman with a heart of tenderness that could soften the soul, and warm the spirit. She had been a professional poet and painter. And it had been her idea to paint the house such a bright color, and put in the enchanting stain-glass windows. _"Things had been so serene when she was alive, she brought us so much joy."_ Papa would always say when she cried about her mother.

"_You infernal girl, where have you put my scarf?"_ Eloise heard yelling down from the stair. Patrice was in one of her "moods", again. She jumped from her window seat, dashing toward the stairwell and looked down. There stood Patrice, hands on her hips with an angry pout across her face. _"Well?"_ Questioned, Patrice giving her stepdaughter a suspecting look.

"_Ask Edna maybe she knows."_ Eloise said, shrugging and walking back toward her room. When she was about to pass the threshold, the woman's voice boomed once more through the house. _"Eloise Mercy Lovat! You come back here. I know it was you, besides Edna is terrified of me! So where is that scarf, girl?" _

Eloise drummed he fingers along the door's threshold for a second.

"_Which one do you mean, Patrice?"_ She said, unmoving from her place in the shadows of her room. _"The dark blue one with the pink butterflies. I'm going to Mrs. Frank's house-warming party tonight and that scarf would match my pink gingum perfectly."_ Eloise bit her lip... _that was_ _her mother's scarf. "I'm not going to let that witch wear Mama's scarf." _Eloise thought as she bounded toward the stair's edge and dangled her long arms over the eves.

"_That was Ma's scarf, a hag like you shouldn't be able to wear it!"_ Eloise bellowed, taunting her stepmother. The old woman narrowed her eyes, and clenched her fist's. _"I could just forget about that little comment, if you give me that scarf. Or with a lick with my leather belt have to convince you, girl?" _

Eloise looked down at the woman with utter hatred. That scarf was her mother's, it was one of the only things she had left of her. _She wasn't going to give it up; it would be like giving up part of Ma's soul._

There was a long moment of silence. Then suddenly, Patrice began to make her way toward Eloise's room. Seeing what was coming, Eloise scurried back to her room, and jumped up onto her large bed that she shared with her twin sister, Edna. Eloise bounded up onto the bed and reached her hand onto the large bookcase next to their bed, and grasped a small Chinese puzzle box. She plunged the box into a blue cloth shoulder bag from under the bed and slung it over her shoulder. Just as Patrice's sluggish fat legs made it to the top of the stair, Eloise leaped through the door and plunged her way down the stairs. Patrice's eyes widened and she grew another tight-lipped pout across her face. Patrice followed and grabbed at the girl's shirt collar. But she missed, only managing to slap the back of the girl's neck with a meaty hand as Eloise continued to spring down the stairs._" You will not disobey your mother girl! What will your sweet Papa say?"_ The woman said as she neared the girl's stride.

Just as she was grasping the front door's handle she turned to face to old woman, who was desperately hobbling toward her. _"You shall never be my mother, and you aren't half the woman she was! And you will never get her scarf! You can never replace her you evil witch!" _Eloise bounded through the door, and down the steps of the pink house's wrap-around porch, just as the she heard the old woman's bellow fill the house once more. Raindrops volleyed her face as if the sky was crying with her. But it was her own tears that streamed down her cheeks though, as she ran through the rain running as far away from her monster of a stepmother. The wind slapped Eloise's face, and made her long thin black braids swish past her as she ran across the flat that the Lovat's owned. There was a tiny orchard on the east side of the enormous hill where the home was. The orchard was old and the trees looked as if they were on their last legs. It had been the garden her mother had nurtured and loved ever so much, like everything else in the world. But after her Ma's death it had been neglected and forgotten. There under he favorite tree was a small white marble bench whose legs were swathed with thick blackened tree roots. Even though it had been raining, and mud had gotten into her Mary Jane's, Eloise almost felt warmth overtake her when she saw the bench. It had been her mother's favorite spot to sit.

A small roll of thunder cackled about the sky as she sat there staring at the large pink turnip of a house, atop the hill. _"She's probably up there plotting on how she'd going to punish me, that old hag…" _Eloise thought ruefully as she sat. She looked down at her cloth bag, which was sitting there on the bench.

She unclasped the bag and took out the China box. She starred at it for a moment. The China box was made of wood and had once been an unsolved Chinese puzzle box that their father had brought back from one of his adventures. Her mother had spent an entire week fawning over its beauty and trying to crack it. Eloise remembered the day she had figured it out. It had been about midnight when she came running up the stairs and thrust to box onto the Edna and Eloise's bed. She had woken them up and hollered enthusiastically, _"Girls I did it! I did it!" That night, _her mother had told them, _"Problems are just like puzzles, they take a little gusto and determination to solve."_ Eloise had always thought that, that had been the best advice she ever been given. To bad she never followed it.

Eloise unclasped the box and took out its contents and laid them softly in her lap. As she did she felt and immense shadow fell over her. Terrified it would be Patrice; she grasped her belongings in her arms as she looked behind her. But instead stood her twin sister Edna, smiling meekly behind her with a large black umbrella.

"_It must be a full moon since that werewolf we live with is raging around the house so."_ Edna said rashly, smiling at her twin and taking a seat beside her.

"_She tried to take Ma's scarf, Eddie."_ Eloise said with a sad timid voice.

"_Yeah think I didn't hear. I was at the wharf, 'eard you all way down the hill! That woman sure has a yell to 'er." _

Eloise smiled, and thought of what Patrice had said, that Edna was scared of her. But the girl was just smart enough not to get out of the way and not cause to her trouble. _"I guess she has more sense than me. And she was born two minutes earlier!_ She thought, smiling meekly at her sister.

Edna gave her the same meek look, like a mirror was opposite of her.

The two girls looked exactly alike from the first black curl ever-hanging over their foreheads to the little point on the end of their noses. They both had their mother mystical shining black eyes, that their father said reminded him of a two black holes sucking in the planets and he glances of the people all around. They were both tall like their father and had sinewy arms, long spidery legs and long noses. The girls also shared her chocolate skin that was lighter than most and that gave a beautiful contrast to their jet-black curls. But the one thing the girls were different about was ambitions, and aspiration. While Edna wanted to be a simple poet and a mother just like her own Ma', her sister Eloise had different more adventurous intentions. Eloise had always dreamed of being a heroine, and adventurer like the woman in her mother's stories. Like Ester, Harriet Tubman and Helen of Troy, and the amazing Amelia Earhart. She wanted to get in a plane and fly around the world, to do something with her life. And most of all to go on an adventure, and maybe even write about it, to publish her stories for the entire world to see.

-&-

Eloise shook suddenly. She had heard a noise coming out of the bushes, and down the hill leading to the house. She turned to her sister, whose face was pale. _"Patrice is coming!"_ Eloise whispered, stuffing the box back into her bag and slinging it onto her shoulder. Edna gave her a look like she understood what she was thinking. _"I've gotta hide this somewhere, Eddie. Cover for me!"_ She said bolting across the orchard. She began to run through the trees and listen to the wind howling behind her. As Eloise ran she heard a call from behind, it was Edna yelling back at her _"Just stay here Eloise! She'll punish us both if you don't stay." "Not a chance!" _Eloiseyelled back as she began to cover the ground on the other side of the property, the large garden another thing her mother had loved. But amazingly still bloomed with great abundance. Her father believed it held their mother's spirit. As she did she hopped their fence and sprang into the garden, which was a beautiful place filled with pink tulips and red carnations and all kind of other plants. She had always admired it but now she admired it even more, now that it created the perfect hiding place.

"_Girl I know you're hidin' out there don't think I can't hear you!" _Eloise heard Patrice moan through the endings of the orchard.

She had just began to dash behind a small platform that jetted out around a field of tulips, just as she saw the woman's round teapot figure appear on the ridge. Eloise ducked down on her stomach and stayed completely still, refusing to breath. Patrice gave out a loud groan, when she couldn't see her. And to Eloise's surprise she turned back, walked back into the orchard to look for her there. As soon as the old woman was gone, Eloise took off through the garden. Her curls slapped her face once more as she ran through the troughs of flowers and around statues, but then she saw her saving grace. _The woods_.

The woods lay just up the small ridge, they were the perfect place to hide until her father returned and set Patrice straight. He was the only person on earth who could get her out of one of her "moods". Eloise planned to sleep in the large oak tree just up the ridge with its large branches and good sight of the house. There hoped she could see it from the trees and spot her father's old car as it came up the drive. Just as she made it up the last crest of the hill, she tripped. As she did she bent her foot the wrong way and lost her footing. It had felt like a daze the falling the tripping, even running down the ridge. Before Eloise could regain her footing she, she found herself tumbling and tripping into the old well. Its top was open, strangely for once and surrounded by small puddles of water. A second later she found her plummeting down the shaft of the old well sideways. _She was falling to her doom!_

Great pain filled her body as she fell for what seemed like hours hitting walls and banging what seemed every bone I her body. Eloise took in a shrill breath realizing in a daze what was about to happen, and she squeezed her entire body in trying to make herself feel smaller… in a way, which was comforting. But when she thought she would soon come to her end, and become smashed against the old bricks, nothing happened. She found herself falling in a spiral, of amazing colors and a vortex swirling its way around her.

After what seemed like a second later she found herself flying out of the well, but on what seemed like the opposite side. _"But wait wells end at the bottom and have big brick floors that would have crushed me. Where am I? Am I dead?"_ Eloise thought urgently as she found herself strangely _gently_ dropped onto the ground by an invisible wind. In complete amazement and shock she stood up to realize, that she was back where she had been. She was standing on the ridge looking down at the garden, and the great big mansion below. It was all the same… but strangely different. She was looking at the house the way _she wished it would look_; she was looking at the garden the way _she wished it was like_. All was the same but strangely different.

_It was as if Eloise had stumbled on another world, when in fact she had stumbled on her Other world._


	2. Cherrie Pies & Button Eyes

**Button Eyes and Cherry Pies**

Eloise looked around floored, and almost dizzy. She had fallen down the shaft of a well, and she had arrived right back home. _Well it wasn't exactly._ Or at all. It just looked semi-the-same.

"_Everything looks so perfect."_ Eloise said letting out an unsuspected whisper under her breath, awed by the sight around her.

Eloise stared for a moment, awed. She was at home, yes that was correct. But it all looked different, it looked like she had always wished it would look. From the first glowing flower to the next cobblestone, it was perfect.

She was standing beside the well, atop the small hill she had just stood on, after what had seemed almost hours ago. The grass was greener the trees around her looked younger and taller, and even the way the hill sloped. As she looked down the now less steep hill she saw the garden, blooming like it had when her mother was alive, every tulip glowing with life. Eloise saw carnations the size of a trashcan lips, fireflies dancing along the garden, as if performing an intricate ballet just for her. She spied even that the cobblestone walkway leading to the fence looked different, the dusty red stones almost glowed like hot coals! But as she went down the hill, she saw something that filled with an even greater wonder, the house.

_It was a beautiful fairytale land; the kind of thing you read about as a child, and believe is actually real… _

The old and dusty Queen Anne's style manor was the way it had been when her mother had been alive. The paint was a bright pink, and then wraparound porch glowed with small cloth covered lamps made from old jam jars. _"It's a perfect little palace!"_ Eloise though, childishly while she giggled. When Eloise looked up at the stain glass windows she saw that the elaborate pictures moved. She saw actual knights fighting and slaying huge dragons breathing real fire, she saw princesses calling from high towers yelling down at her. But most of all, to her there was a beautiful smell in the air.

Eloise held her head high in the air and got up a huge gust of the aroma. It was pie, but not just any pie her mother's super sweet cherry pie. When Eloise and her sister had been little girls they had waited months for the cherry season to start so they could pick cherries. Their mother had made the best pie in the world, with those cherries… that only meant one thing. Her mother was inside the house. She stopped for a moment, _"Could Ma really be in there?"_ Eloise asked herself and wondered. _"How could this be? Momma's been dead for four years…"_

-&-

Eloise took a step, and another. Before she could handle herself she bounded toward the door of the big house. After throwing open the door she slowly stepped inside. _"This was the same place that only minutes ago I told myself I never I'd never enter. And know I'm here." _The house looked the same, but like everything it looked better. The old staircase looked new, and it was painted an olive green, contrasting with the pink and white wallpaper, the usually rickety stairs looked even and strong. And most of all she heard a never-ending humming coming from the kitchen to her left.

She walked slowly, and ever meekly into the kitchen and pinched herself…very hard. It was real, and she wasn't dead, but she didn't feel alive she felt almost, in a daze. _"Ma'?????????????"_ She said in a very timid voice. Eloise turned to corner and stepped fully into the kitchen. There before her was the one person she had wanted to see most in the world for the last four years. _Her mother. _Before her stood Rachelle Minerva Lovat, in all her glory. Standing at the kitchen counter wearing an old pink lace apron, with her back turned.

She was a tall woman, with skin like chocolate and just as smooth. Her daughters had inherited her long black curls that framed her long face, and her long arms. Eloise's father always said, "Rachelle had eyes like black holes, that sucked in the attention of everyone around." But at the moment the woman turned and Eloise tried to look into her mother's eyes, there were none. All Eloise could see at the moment were glossy black buttons.

_Eloise screamed_.

_Her mother did not have buttons for eyes like some kind of deranged rag doll, no way… not at all. _

The woman before her opened her black button eyes wide with concern and grabbed the girl's wrist. _"Eloise, what's wrong my darling?"_ The rag doll woman said in her mother's voice. Eloise shuddered, _"How are you my mother? My-yy m-oooother doesn't have buttons for eyes?" _Eloise stuttered, sounding more like a scared little six-year old than her adventurous 10 year old self. Then she had a thought, _"What would the adventurous women, like Amelia Earhart do in a situation like this."_ Eloise thought desperately trying to hang on to courage.

"_My dear, Eloise are you frightened by my eyes? They do not pierce you do they? My dear, everyone has different kinds of eyes." _Eloise starred at the woman for a moment, trying to understand what she meant. _"She's an imposter, she's not my mother! Oh this just a horrible dream. A nightmare no doubt!" _Eloise thought frantically trying to feel brave, against those large menacing button eyes.

"_Your not my mother! My mother didn't have button eyes!"_ Eloise said, calmly with all the courage she could muster. The women looked back angrily for a moment and then responded in a light and airy voice, _"Oh Eloise, but I am your Other mother. Don't you see, I don't have eyes like your other less fun mother." _

"_How is a scary woman like you fun??"_ Eloise said not even realized she had thought out loud. The Other Mother narrowed her button eyes for a moment like she was trying to think, and then motioned for Eloise to sit down. _"Have some pie while I explain, My Dear." _As she set the pie slice before her, a steam of wondrous smells enveloped her. The smell of the sweet cherries wafting around her, the smell of the sweet sugary crust floated around her in a cloud of sweetness. Eloise sat there in a daze for a few moments forgetting she was allowed to eat the pie. As she dug in her mouth watered, it was the most amazing pie she had tasted in the entire world.

As she gulfed down bite-by-bite of the pie, the Other Mother began to fill the table with other plates. One was filled with toast and current jelly, another filled with mashed potatoes and gravy. There were cream corn and jelly pasties, all steaming hot and looking delectable. Eloise suddenly realized the Other Mother had begun to fill the table with Eloise's favorite foods. Which were all things her _real _mother used to make for Eloise and Edna. Eloise's face exploded in a smile.

"_Maybe this woman really is my Other Mother. Kind of like a nice stand-in mother." _Eloise thought, but rejected as soon as she let it pop into her head.

"_If you're my Other Mother than what about everyone else? Do I have an Other Edna, and Papa, an Other Patrice?" _ Eloise said, as she pondered the idea.

"_Well of course you do! My, dear Eloise this is your world! A place were all your dreams can come true! Why wouldn't they be able to share in it?"_ The Other Mother said as she placed another plate on the table. _"Now if you would be a dear will you go and get the Other Edna from the garden, she's just having too much fun! I think she needs some help!" _

Eager to explore this strange utopia she was in, Eloise set off through the front door, towards the garden. As she had observed earlier the garden was beautiful place, and much different than the one at home. _"Well this is home, in a way…in a very twisted way." _ Eloise thought as she walked through its almost jungle-like platforms. Soon she approached a large planter filled with bright pink tulips that almost glowed in the now bright moonlight. As she began to walk she could hear singing; a beautiful rhyme sung by a mystifying voice singing a fairy-like song.

_A fairytale like no other,_

_Brings you here to greet the Mother,_

_A secret lies beneath her heart,_

_So horrible your sweet little heart might just break apart_

_Little girl, beware_

_Of the doll with the flowing hair, _

_For her eyes they see all _

_And the button eyes shall be your fall_

_She promises love,_

_But the pain she brings, you my dear have never dreamed of,_

_Buttons eyes, Button eyes_

_A horrible surprise_

Standing on her knees in the tulips was her twin, sister Edna with her nose in the petals. She seemed to be measuring the flowers stalks with a small measuring stick. As she trotted closer she realized her sister was the singer.

When the Other Edna looked up she realized the girl looked scared. The button-eyed girl's face was filled with dread, and fright. _"What's wrong Edna?"_ Eloise asked concerned about this strange little girl who looked so much like her sister. The girl did not answer, nor did she even move from her spot in the tulips. She just stared straight at Eloise with her blank button-eyed expression. _"This is strange, the girl was singing so beautifully a second ago why won't she talk to me??"_ Eloise thought, scared of what might be wrong. Then Edna finally to a moment to think about the girls lyrics. _"It was a warning…."_ She thought urgently, _"the Other Edna is trying to help me.. But how could such a perfect place be so horrible." _

"_Eloissee! Where are you?!" _The Other Mother called from the house in a singsong manner. As she did the Other Edna got up and trotted up ridge, beckoning Eloise after her. Eloise reluctantly followed, but still pondered the Other Edna's strange words.

-&-

That evening they sat on the porch after having more of the Other Mother's amazing pie, and listened to stories. She told the most amazing stories, but each were strangely eerier than the next. Not as pleasant as the on her Papa told her. But the stories were enticing almost put her in a trance when she heard them.

When it was time to go sleep, and her eyelids began to droop, the Other Mother led her to her room. _Well it wasn't her room. _But of coarse, once again what she wished her room looked like. Inside there was a bed sitting under the window like in her own room. But this room had a larger bed with a puffy soft purple sheet, and a canopy. Instead of Patrice's dreadful wallpaper across her walls, there was pictures of famous and happy people. Each picture looked like it had a different story to it.

But her favorite part was the large bookcase. It was filled to the brim with books on adventure, knick-knacks from far-away places and things you might need if you went on an adventure. From stuffed giraffes to maps of the world, to the postage stamps and the aviator goggles, the room was perfect. But in an eerie perfect. _"How did the Other Mother know my deepest dreams?"_ She thought as she laid upon the beautiful bed, entranced. As she lay there, the words of the Other Edna surrounded her, chanting in her mind.

_Eloise realized then that this perfect place wasn't as it seemed._

_Water splashed her face, she shivered. _

She was freezing cold and wet, laying on the parlor couch. She rubbed her arms against the rough cloth of the couch to see if it was true. _"I sure am not dead." _Eloise thought as she propped her self up, so she could look about the room. There she was in her own parlor, lying on the couch. But who was splashing water on her? Eloise turned around, wide-eyed and terrified.

There sat Patrice, sitting atop the kitchen stool with a pail of water and hot cloth in her arms.

"_Well stop looking at me like an angel, you ain't dead girl. Well not yet, your Papas on his way up the drive, I believe."_ Patrice said putting a hot cloth on her head. _"You fell down the well! Such a scary thing to do really…"_ Patrice said, her voice mumbling on like it usually did. _"Do I detect sympathy, from Patrice?"_ Eloise thought, amazed that the woman was actually trying to play the part of a mother.

There was a knock on the door, and Edna ran down the stairs to open it. A second later her Papa, stood behind her on the couch with a surprised look on his face.

"_Patrice…what happened?" _

While Patrice tried to explain her half of the story, Eloise took the china box of her messenger bag, strangely still around her neck. As she sat and listened, Eloise thought of the Other World and it's fairytale-like wonder_. "Will I ever go there again? Nahh I'll listen to the advice the Other Edna gave me and stay out." _

_Little did she know she was about to enter a treacherous adventure in the Other World. One she might never return from._


	3. A Frightfull, Shrieking Night

_Author's Note_: Hey, it's me Macey St. Claire, just FYI: I changed my username to Dakota Erina Tak. Lol if you read the last name and the middle, its my real name just backwards. Ha Ha! But anyway! I am extremely appreciative of all the wonderful, helpful and invigorating comments I've been receiving for this story. I love all of you guys, and please keep up the comments. Your suggestions are really valued! : D I would like to dedicate this story to one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Shelby. I know she practically hates the movie Coralline, but hey she's a great friend and one of my favorite people who read my stories. So if I can convince her to read it maybe she'll agree to read or even watch Coraline. Hopefully! Ok, so the story continues with Eloise hearing a shrieking sound in the night. What's going to happen next? Who knows?"

- - - Dakota Erina Tak

Chapter 3: _A shrieking in the night_

Eloise Lovatt was shaken awake in the night to a sharp metallic sound. It blasted once then pulled back like a load symbol being struck, and then held so no sound could come from it. She got up and woke her sister Edna, who crossly muttered as she awoke. _"Eloise!!!!! What is it this time? Uhhh"_ Edna said grumbling and rubbing her eyes. _"I heard something! Did you hear it?"_ Eloise whispered as Edna starred back at her grouchily. _"Ellie it's probably just the wind, now go back to bed! We have church tomorrow, and Patrice hates it when we make noise in the night."_ Her twin added lying back and plunging her pillow over her head. It was no use, Edna wasn't going to help her tackle her fears, and she would have to do all by herself. _"Oh God help me, it's not my fault my sister's such a wimp."_ Eloise muttered.

This had happening for a week now, the sounds in the night the shadows haunting Eloise in her dreams…and it had all started when she had left the Other World. Sometimes it was a sharp sound or a strange creak in the paneled floor, which woke her other times it was a cold chill. But every fateful night she had awoken wide eyed and scared.

_It was time to investigate._

She grabbed her silk robe and a flashlight, and made her way toward her doorway. As she walked the houses floorboards creaked and whined, making her dart around with every step. Soon she was standing on the landing, overlooking the front rooms and rasping, old staircase. She flicked on her flashlight, which flickered against the paint-chipped handrails as it turned on. She shined it against the flowered wallpaper and, looking for anything that might have triggered the sound. She put her first foot on the top step. It creaked, and Eloise whimpered_. "Think like an adventurer, Ellie, think like an adventurer. Now what would an adventurer do?"_ She thought, trying to grip her own sanity. Seeing nothing suspicious, she lightly pranced down the stairs, careful not to trigger another spine-chilling creak in the flooring. As she ran, Eloise felt as if each step would be her last, suspense formed a cloud around her mind and the world was foggy and thick around her. As she got to the last step, she stumbled one the very leg she had almost broken a week earlier. Eloise made a shrill crack as she fell, breaking the un-nerving silence in the air.

Flinching she got up without making a sound, hoping she hadn't made enough noise to wake up her fire-breathing dragon of a stepmother. A sharp _swish _sounded by her ear and she recoiled. Was it the awful thing that had been keeping her awake for the last week? It sounded again. Acting on impulse, Eloise sputtered on her flashlight trying to see the producer of the sound. She saw nothing. Eloise slowly moved to the center of the sitting room, a light and frightfully bright pink and flowery room that Patrice had taken the liberty to use her "magic touch" on. Though in the daytime the room resembled a small star blaring its bright colors, in the night it looked like a shadowy dungeon to Eloise. Every pillow and knick-knack, looked as if it had a face, glaring and laughing at Eloise's curiosity

Eloise moved around in a circle shining the light on every crevasse and nook in the room. But all she saw nothing but old wallpaper and the rest of the stairs. _"Come on Elle, it's probably just a rat or the wind, yeah the wind it's a pretty old house and all."_ Eloise said trying to trick herself into facing her fears. She did another full circle with flashlight, and noticed something sitting in her mother's chair, _the one nobody was allowed to ever sit in. _She stared at it, wondering what in the world it was. She moved closer and made the flashlight brighter on it, she slowly walked closer to it. Curious, Eloise knelled before the old rocking chair, and before her sitting nicely upon the seat of it was a small rag doll. The most peculiar part was that it looked almost exactly alike Eloise. This bizarre doll had the same long arms, opal-shaped face, long curly black hair and chocolate skin. But the one thing that was unusual was the eyes the doll had. Instead of Eloise's large "black holes" like her father enjoyed calling them, this doll had a pair black button eyes. Suddenly Eloise remembered the Other Edna's shocking ballad.

_Little girl, beware_

_Of the doll with the flowing hair, _

_For her eyes they see all _

_And the button eyes shall be your fall_

With sudden shock, Eloise dropped the doll. Now it was all terrifyingly clear to her. The doll that the Other Edna had warned her about was here, right in front of her! How had it gotten here? Was it some cruel joke Patrice was playing on her? _"No, it couldn't have been, I didn't tell her. The only person who I told about the "Other World" was Edna."_ Eloise thought franticly, as she gaped at the doll in disbelief. All of the sudden a rapid shrieking sound thrashed beyond her. Immediately Eloise, flicked on her flashlight shining it all along the wall behind her, but again she saw nothing. She stood up and examined the antiques on the shelf that lined the wall behind her. Then there was the sound of breaking china, which made Eloise grimace.

"_Another thing for Patrice to kill me over." _She thought, as she spun around once more to look for whatever had made the sound. It glimmered along old books and china statues, a wooded horse and an antique reading lamp. Then light reflected off the lamp and onto the wall behind her, facing the lace curtains. A second later a loud rustling came from behind her in the curtains. Eloise whimpered and spun her body around, in one fleeting motion. The rustling seemed to be coming from something running along the doily-covered windowsill. Something with dark, prancing feet or even paws was making its way to the other side of the sill, ready to pounce on another antique of some kind. Flashlight gleaming in front of her, Eloise leapt at the figure on the sill but was sadly unsuccessful. She had been a few inches away from it. A sharp, soft tail whipped across her face in defiance as she jumped up to continue her expedition. Eloise bounded after it, forgetting her vow to keep quiet.

In the distance she could hear a light padding sound against the old wooden floor. This excited Eloise, she leaped across the front room, and hurdled over the large curling banister at the foot of the stairs. As Eloise sprang into the kitchen, she saw a black blob moving across the kitchen table and jumping onto the tile and up onto the light pink tile counter. In a rush to catch this menace she flickered on the single light bulb in the middle of the room, and suddenly the room came to life. And they're sat her pesky troublemaker, which turned out to be a sleek coated black cat with looming eyes and a smug expression.

"Well Eloise, for a human girl you are quite smart, and sly. You should've been a cat. But that's not the matter I'm up to at the moment. That devilish Other Mother as asked me to send you a message. She has promised to not try and smite me for a month if you get this on time." The cat said with a quiet yet haughty manner.

_Eloise gapped, "Cats are supposed to talk." She thought, starring mindlessly at the animal before her. _


End file.
